https://community.element14.com/products/roadtest/The element14 RoadTests are an extensive collection of detailed product reviews for engineers that are written by members of the group. The reviews cover a wide range of new B2B products used for in the engineering design and development process. Product ren-USTelligent Community 12https://community.element14.com/products/roadtest/b/blog/posts/raspberry-pi-cm5---firmware-installation-and-configurationSun, 06 Sep 2026 00:29:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:7f8c0122-51b8-48de-b85e-3bb616e56464ralphjyHardware is put together and ready to install and configure the OS firmware and install and configure the Frigate Docker container. The CM5 in the roadtest uses eMMC rather than an SD card for storage so the process is slightly different using the Raspberry Pi Imager. The firmware installation should be straightforward because I had just installed HAOS on a CM4 with eMMC about a month ago. The CM4 is in the upper left next to the roadtest kit. To start you need to install the eMMC Boot Disable jumper (yellow) so that the eMMC will show up as a USB drive to the RPi Imager. You also need to run a rpiboot utility on your host computer to allow it to find the port. I had a bag of jumpers next to my keyboard so that part was easy. I think that I must have used my laptop to image the CM4 because my Windows 11 PC did not have rpiboot installed. It was simple enough to download and install the latest usbboot release windows installer from github. I ran rpiboot and plugged in the cable from the CM5 IO USB-C port to the PC's USB3 port. The usual caveats about power since the USB3 port is being used for both data and power, but haven't had any issues so far as I am careful not to attach any peripherals so that the 900 mA available isn't an issue for flashing. When I started the Imager, it reported that a new version was available. I probably would have been fine using the v1.8.5 version, but what is the fun of a roadtest if you don't try to use the latest stuff - and it was v2.0.11.1 - so it must be better... And it successfully found the eMMC. The humorous part showed up in Customisation:Localisation as the Brits would say it (spell it). I couldn't figure out what it wanted for Capital city because I guess it was too obvious. I'm used to just setting Pacific Time/Los Angeles as the Time zone, but I guess somebody thought knowing the Capital city of the United States was useful... I am planning to run a headless system with a containerized (containerised?) Frigate installation, so I chose to install the Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit) - (you have to look under "Raspberry Pi OS (other)" for OS selection) It took a while to write and verify - I'm glad I didn't choose a large OS installation like Desktop OS and apps which is about 6 times larger. I did the normal headless configurations (I configured WiFi, but plan to run wired for performance/reliability). I removed the Boot Disable jumper and replaced the USB-C cable with the power adapter and the CM5 rebooted. Because I had configured the hostname and user account and enabled SSH, I was able to log in with a PuTTY SSH terminal. Then I set up Static IP for my wired ethernet. I won't show my details, but the general form is: sudo nmcli connection modify "Wired connection 1" ipv4.addresses 192.168.1.150/24 sudo nmcli connection modify "Wired connection 1" ipv4.gateway 192.168.1.1 sudo nmcli connection modify "Wired connection 1" ipv4.dns "1.1.1.1,8.8.8.8" sudo nmcli connection modify "Wired connection 1" ipv4.method manual sudo nmcli connection up "Wired connection 1" In the OS the connection is called "netplan-eth0", so after the changes you need to start it: sudo nmcli connection up "netplan-eth0" With that done, the next step is to install Frigate. Frigate Installation First step is to install Docker and Docker Compose. The process is fairly simple. In the PuTTY terminal: Get the installation script (I just put in my home directory): curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh then execute it: sudo sh get-docker.sh and it installs: Add yourself to to the Docker Group: sudo usermod -aG docker ralph then log out and back in so the permissions take effect. Next step is the Frigate installation. Docker will do most of the work. We need to create directories for Frigate configuration and storage and two YAML files. docker-compose.yml this file configures the Frigate Docker container services: frigate: container_name: frigate privileged: true # Required for hardware access restart: unless-stopped image: ghcr.io/blakeblackshear/frigate:stable shm_size: "64mb" # Base setup, increase later if you have many high-res cameras volumes: - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro - ./config:/config - ./storage:/media/frigate ports: - "5000:5000" - "8554:8554" # RTSP Feeds - "8555:8555" # WebRTC - "8555:8555/udp" # WebRTC environment: FRIGATE_RTSP_PASSWORD: "password" config.yml this file configures Frigate operation mqtt: enabled: False # Turning off for initial test boot cameras: test_camera: # You can name this whatever you want enabled: True ffmpeg: inputs: - path: rtsp://10.0.0.X:554/stream1 # <-- Put your actual camera stream link here roles: - detect detect: enabled: False # Turn object detection off until we verify the video feed works Here is the file structure: Final step is to run docker: docker compose up -d And the image can be viewed in a browser at URL http://ipaddr:5000 This is my front driveway camera. Now on to the fun part of the roadtest - benchmarking the different hardware configurations. I'll start just running with the CM5. Then I'll try adding a Hailo 8L accelerator. I also would like to see how well a USB3 SSD will perform. Hopefully this will become my NVR setup for the future.rpi cm5 io boardRaspberry Pi CM5rpi cm5 development kit roadtestfrigate nvrhttps://community.element14.com/products/roadtest/b/blog/posts/raspberry-pi-cm5-roadtest---flashing-the-operating-systemSat, 05 Sep 2026 08:29:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:18bb0bdd-8b59-4db8-96fc-bc3bfdf59c2cgpolderIntroduction Flashing an operating-system image to the Compute Module 5 is slightly different from what you may be used to with a traditional Raspberry Pi. With a regular Raspberry Pi, the usual procedure is to write Raspberry Pi OS to a microSD card using Raspberry Pi Imager, insert the card into the Pi, and boot. The CM5, however, does not have a microSD card slot. The operating system is installed on the module's onboard eMMC storage instead. To do this, the CM5 is connected to a computer through the USB interface on the IO board and placed into USB boot mode. The host computer can then detect the CM5 storage, allowing Raspberry Pi Imager to write the selected operating-system image directly to it. This extra step makes the first installation a little less straightforward than with a conventional Raspberry Pi, but once the CM5 is set up, the boot process is essentially the same as you would expect from a Raspberry Pi. Installing the tools on the host computer For the host computer, I decided to use my Raspberry Pi 400. The tool required to flash the CM5 over USB is rpiboot. According to the official documentation , rpiboot can be installed using apt: me@raspberrypi:~ $ sudo apt install rpiboot Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree... Done Reading state information... Done The following NEW packages will be installed: rpiboot 0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 76.7 MB of archives. After this operation, 108 MB of additional disk space will be used. Get:1 http://archive.raspberrypi.org/debian bullseye/main armhf rpiboot armhf 20221215~105525 [76.7 MB] Fetched 76.7 MB in 26s (2,934 kB/s) Selecting previously unselected package rpiboot. (Reading database ... 174846 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../rpiboot_20221215~105525_armhf.deb ... Unpacking rpiboot (20221215~105525) ... Setting up rpiboot (20221215~105525) ... me@raspberrypi:~ $ Flashing Next, a jumper needs to be placed on J2 on the IO board. This disables eMMC boot mode and allows the eMMC to be accessed and written to over USB. No jumper was included with the kit, but luckily I have a well-stocked junk box, so finding a suitable one was no problem. Finaly connect the IO board to the host computer over USB. Now on the host computer mount the eMMC with the rpiboot command. me@raspberrypi:~ $ rpiboot RPIBOOT: build-date Dec 15 2022 version 20221215~105525 7aa7e758 Waiting for BCM2835/6/7/2711... Unfortunately nothing happend. Also it shows that his rpiboot version is already quite old, from 2022. After some reading at the usbboot troubleshooting guide I decided to try a newer version, by downloading and compiling it from github. me@raspberrypi:~ $ wget https://github.com/raspberrypi/usbboot/archive/refs/heads/master.zip --2026-09-02 20:33:31-- https://github.com/raspberrypi/usbboot/archive/refs/heads/master.zip Resolving github.com (github.com)... 140.82.121.4 Connecting to github.com (github.com)|140.82.121.4|:443... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Found Location: https://codeload.github.com/raspberrypi/usbboot/zip/refs/heads/master [following] --2026-09-02 20:33:32-- https://codeload.github.com/raspberrypi/usbboot/zip/refs/heads/master Resolving codeload.github.com (codeload.github.com)... 140.82.121.10 Connecting to codeload.github.com (codeload.github.com)|140.82.121.10|:443... connected. HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK Length: 126933862 (121M) [application/zip] Saving to: ‘master.zip’ master.zip 100%[==================================>] 121.05M 8.46MB/s in 14s 2026-09-02 20:33:53 (8.87 MB/s) - ‘master.zip’ saved [126933862/126933862] me@raspberrypi:~ $ unzip master.zip Archive: master.zip 3090a13e58b7f55c4941c56134501e1934744137 creating: usbboot-master/ creating: usbboot-master/.github/ creating: usbboot-master/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/ inflating: usbboot-master/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/bug_report.yml inflating: usbboot-master/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/config.yml inflating: usbboot-master/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/feature_request.md ...........long list of files ..................... usbboot-master/tools/rpi-otp-private-key -> ../rpi-eeprom/tools/rpi-otp-private-key usbboot-master/tools/rpi-sign-bootcode -> ../rpi-eeprom/tools/rpi-sign-bootcode me@raspberrypi:~ $ me@raspberrypi:~ $ cd usbboot-master/ me@raspberrypi:~/usbboot-master $ ls bin2c.c docs main.c msd rpi-imager-embedded test bootfiles.c eeprom-erase Makefile Readme.md secure-boot-example tools bootfiles.h firmware mass-storage-gadget recovery secure-boot-msd win32 decode_duid.c fmemopen.c mass-storage-gadget64 recovery5 secure-boot-recovery decode_duid.h LICENSE mass-storage-gadget64-cm3 rpi-eeprom secure-boot-recovery5 me@raspberrypi:~/usbboot-master $ Install nescesary libraries: me@raspberrypi:~ $ me@raspberrypi:~/usbboot-master $ sudo apt install git libusb-1.0-0-dev pkg-config build-essential Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree... Done Reading state information... Done build-essential is already the newest version (12.9). git is already the newest version (1:2.30.2-1+deb11u5). pkg-config is already the newest version (0.29.2-1). The following additional packages will be installed: libusb-1.0-doc The following NEW packages will be installed: libusb-1.0-0-dev libusb-1.0-doc 0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 263 kB of archives. After this operation, 1,861 kB of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Get:1 http://mirror.truenetwork.ru/raspbian/raspbian bullseye/main armhf libusb-1.0-0-dev armhf 2:1.0.24-3 [70.8 kB] Get:2 http://ftp.tsukuba.wide.ad.jp/Linux/raspbian/raspbian bullseye/main armhf libusb-1.0-doc all 2:1.0.24-3 [192 kB] Fetched 263 kB in 9s (30.5 kB/s) Selecting previously unselected package libusb-1.0-0-dev:armhf. (Reading database ... 174898 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to unpack .../libusb-1.0-0-dev_2%3a1.0.24-3_armhf.deb ... Unpacking libusb-1.0-0-dev:armhf (2:1.0.24-3) ... Selecting previously unselected package libusb-1.0-doc. Preparing to unpack .../libusb-1.0-doc_2%3a1.0.24-3_all.deb ... Unpacking libusb-1.0-doc (2:1.0.24-3) ... Setting up libusb-1.0-doc (2:1.0.24-3) ... Setting up libusb-1.0-0-dev:armhf (2:1.0.24-3) ... me@raspberrypi:~/usbboot-master $ And build the program: me@raspberrypi:~/usbboot-master $ make cc -Wall -Wextra -g -o rpiboot main.c bootfiles.c decode_duid.c `pkg-config --cflags --libs libusb-1.0` -DGIT_VER="\"\"" -DPKG_VER="\"local\"" -DBUILD_DATE="\"2026/09/02\"" -DDEFAULT_MSG_DIR=\"/usr/share/rpiboot/mass-storage-gadget64/\" me@raspberrypi:~/usbboot-master $ Try again, and success! me@raspberrypi:~/usbboot-master $ sudo ./rpiboot -d mass-storage-gadget64 RPIBOOT: build-date 2026/09/02 pkg-version local Please fit the EMMC_DISABLE / nRPIBOOT jumper before connecting the power and USB cables to the target device. If the device fails to connect then please see https://rpltd.co/rpiboot for debugging tips. Loading: mass-storage-gadget64/bootfiles.bin Using mass-storage-gadget64/bootfiles.bin Waiting for BCM2835/6/7/2711/2712... Sending bootcode.bin Successful read 4 bytes Waiting for BCM2835/6/7/2711/2712... Second stage boot server File read: mcb.bin File read: memsys00.bin File read: memsys01.bin File read: rp1c0fw1.bin File read: memsys02.bin File read: rp1c0fw2.bin File read: memsys03.bin File read: bootmain Loading: mass-storage-gadget64/config.txt File read: config.txt Loading: mass-storage-gadget64/boot.img File read: boot.img Second stage boot server done me@raspberrypi:~/usbboot-master $ This can also be checked with lsblk, which nicely shows the eMMC drive (sda). me@raspberrypi:~ $ lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT sda 8:0 1 29.1G 0 disk mmcblk0 179:0 0 14.8G 0 disk ├─mmcblk0p1 179:1 0 256M 0 part /boot └─mmcblk0p2 179:2 0 14.6G 0 part / Now with the use of the Raspberry Pi Imager I was able to flash the CM5. Bottom line Flashing the CM5 is not difficult once you know the correct procedure, but there is one important pitfall. The version of rpiboot available through apt on my Raspberry Pi 400 was too old to work with the CM5. Installing the latest version from the Raspberry Pi usbboot GitHub repository solved the problem, and the CM5 eMMC was then successfully detected as a USB mass-storage device and could be flashed with Raspberry Pi Imager. In short: fit the jumper on J2 , connect the CM5 to the host via USB, use the latest rpiboot , and then flash the eMMC with Raspberry Pi Imager.https://community.element14.com/products/roadtest/f/forum/57228/red-pitaya-stemlab-out-of-the-box/238024Fri, 04 Sep 2026 16:01:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:424f553e-7690-4538-8129-bedaf3c129eeJan CumpsWhat were your intentions with it at the time?https://community.element14.com/products/roadtest/f/forum/57228/red-pitaya-stemlab-out-of-the-box/238018Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:24:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:85a2c1c1-df9d-4192-a508-88ab6a9a3169johnmitchellI've had one since 2014- still haven't really found a use for it.https://community.element14.com/products/roadtest/f/forum/57228/red-pitaya-stemlab-out-of-the-box/238017Fri, 04 Sep 2026 15:12:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:71aa12d0-1605-463f-8ca4-56ed82162515dang74Wow, if I hadn't seen that colporteur was the author of this post I would have thought I was reading later-day Kurt Vonnegut, who became very relaxed and comical.https://community.element14.com/products/roadtest/f/forum/57228/red-pitaya-stemlab-out-of-the-box/238016Fri, 04 Sep 2026 11:10:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:686bdf28-2ce1-4fc0-8506-187fc82f5988QbitSad to see your grandkids disappointed without stickers, Nice follow-up on the roadtest, I wish to see some more photographs of the kit and how you test it out.https://community.element14.com/products/roadtest/f/forum/57228/red-pitaya-stemlab-out-of-the-boxThu, 03 Sep 2026 19:49:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:ac6a87f7-7216-4534-a360-9a804b054732colporteurIt arrived! What "it" is I don't quite recall. This RoadTest opened in May, application selection was in June, review complete six week later. It is now September. Hummm...RoadTest finished last week, I didn't think I was done. Colporteur, please refrain from being facetious when commenting on RoadTest. Your inside voice speaking to you. It has been sometime since I attempted a RoadTest. One change. Give credit to the RoadTest organizers. Your one page check sheet included AWESOME! I remember searching through the box to make sure I didn't throw something out with the packing. No swag bag of stickers with the shipment. My grand kids will be disappointed. I unboxed and proceeded to discover what I have gotten myself into. Well and least the parts that I received. I don't recall seeing a checklist document in the past. It gave me confidence that I have what I'm expected I have. Now what I am suppose to do with it, is a mystery I have yet to solve. I think the application might be on a different computer. I will have to look that up. Thanks to Element14 and the Red Pitaya sponsors, the short ethernet cable in the kit allowed me to plug in my laptop and find my application for this RoadTest. Did I say I could do that? I think we need to talk. I wanted to let you folks know the RoadTest package has arrived and according to the schedule I'm done.RoadTestred pitayahttps://community.element14.com/products/roadtest/f/forum/57228/red-pitaya-stemlab-out-of-the-box/238012Thu, 03 Sep 2026 18:59:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:032d0568-5f6b-4659-b033-c75f4ff9e9c4DABI look forward to your test report.https://community.element14.com/products/roadtest/f/forum/57228/red-pitaya-stemlab-out-of-the-box/238010Thu, 03 Sep 2026 15:55:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:86054c59-4d89-4dc3-84bf-a0bb445ffccemichaelkellettYou should never inhale the magic smoke ! MKhttps://community.element14.com/products/roadtest/b/blog/posts/raspberry-pi-cm5-roadtest---first-impressionsSat, 29 Aug 2026 15:30:00 GMT93d5dcb4-84c2-446f-b2cb-99731719e767:3894e2f7-e30f-49ae-bcc5-638283eb0715gpolderAfter a long wait, the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 Development Kit finally arrived at my desk, ready for its road test. My proposed plan is to test the Compute Module 5 with Software Defined Radio (SDR), using both RTL-SDR and Ettus Research USRP B205mini-I hardware. I’ll be using a range of SDR software, including GQRX, OpenWebRX, GNU Radio, and SDR++. Before diving into the actual testing, I’ll start with some general information about the kit, including the unboxing and initial assembly. There were two boxes in the package: the CM5 Development Kit and a 27 W USB-C power supply. The Development Kit itself also included a power supply, but it came with a UK plug. Since I’m located in the Netherlands, the additional power supply with a suitable plug was provided separately. The big box contains some more boxes, some cables and an antenna: One of the boxes contains the IO Case, with the IO Board already mounted, the small boxes contains the CM5 module and a heatsink: Closeup of the CM5 and the heatsink: Opening up the case, shows the IO board and the fan, looks nice that the IO board already is remounted, but it needs to be removed in order to install the heatsink that need to be screwed from the back of the PCB. The heatsink comes with four M2.5 nylon washers, two 1.5 mm high and two 3 mm high. For the CM5 module, the 1.5 mm washers need to be placed between the IO board and the CM5. The heatsink is then secured to the CM5 using screws inserted from the back of the IO board. Thermal silicone connects the components with the heatsink. More details here: Raspberry Pi Cooler For Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 Here is a short video showing how I mounted the heatsink: The next step was to mount the Wi-Fi antenna. Connecting the U.FL antenna connector to the CM5 board proved to be a bit of a challenge. In hindsight, it would have been much easier to connect it before mounting the heatsink. After some careful pushing and a bit of fiddling, however, I eventually managed to get it connected. And here is the final result:RoadTestreviewRaspberry Pi CM5unboxing